Problems with Nikken 5th axis on Robodrill

Our shop just acquired a used Fanuc Robodrill Alpha-T142A with the 16i-M control, along with a 5th axis Nikken 5AX-2MT-105-120 that was previously mated with it. We really need help figuring a couple issues out. We got each unit off the truck and plugged them in once in place, and got a couple alarms:

'300 APC ALARM : A AXIS NEED ZRN'
'300 APC ALARM : B AXIS NEED ZRN'
'306 APC ALARM : A AXIS BATTERY ZERO'
'306 APC ALARM : B AXIS BATTERY ZERO'

All I can figure regarding the "battery" alarms is that the APC absolute position coder battery drained while the machine was being shipped, judging by the fact that alarm was gone today after being plugged into the wall and charging overnight. The first two alarms are the real issue; I assume the absolute position was lost when the machines were disconnected from power & batteries drained and the 4th and 5th axis need to be taught zero again although they normally save their position using that battery. How are you supposed to home the darn thing? There is no 'reference point' button for homing on this model robodrill so we tried jogging it manually with the pulse handle and made the problem worse; the A axis stopped moving at one point (seemingly overtravelled, no crunch/clunk sound though) and this alarm came up:

'369 A AXIS: DATA TRANS. ERROR(INT)'

This is the only description I can find for this alarm- "A CRC or stop bit error occurred in the communication data being received from the built-in pulse coder." The machine will no longer let you jog anything with the pulse handle and I can't clear it with the reset button. Is there a hard override on these fanuc's that will let me jog the 5th axis away from the overtravel point so we can hopefully clear the 369 alarm and attempt to home it (once we finally figure out how to do that)?

Couldn't find much relevant material from the manufacturer online but I'll give them a call, any info or ideas you might have would be welcome. Thanks

When you unplug a battery backed encoder (APC) the zero point is lost. Powering the machine on and off once, after you have plugged in the Nikken should clear the battery zero alarms.
Next you will have to reestablish the zero points with Parameter 1815. The APC and APZ bits are shown on the top of the column. Some just need the APZ turned to 1, Others need APC to 0 then APZ to 1 then APC to 1. You mist do this with the mechanical position in the correct place as APZ sets the zero location. If its wrong you can just repeat the procedure in the correct location.

As far as setting the initial battery alarm, I would suspect that they got unplugged.(I see now you say they were seperated)

As far as the new sv0369 alarm. In the recent past I have got sv0364 365 367 368 all fixed with new feedback cables.
I have no idea how that gizmo works, but is it possible to yank on a cable if you jog one axis if you were in this non homed condition?

I'm not sure about Nikken, but Tsudokoma rotary tables I've worked on have a prox switch that hits a dog to trigger the hard limit on the A axis. Once that switch is hit, nothing will move until the switch is released, which requires taking a cover off and removing the switch. You might have something similar on yours.

ifixcnc said:

When you unplug a battery backed encoder (APC) the zero point is lost. Powering the machine on and off once, after you have plugged in the Nikken should clear the battery zero alarms.
Next you will have to reestablish the zero points with Parameter 1815. The APC and APZ bits are shown on the top of the column. Some just need the APZ turned to 1, Others need APC to 0 then APZ to 1 then APC to 1. You mist do this with the mechanical position in the correct place as APZ sets the zero location. If its wrong you can just repeat the procedure in the correct location.

Click to expand...

This is the answer.
If you need further assistance, pm me and I can walk you through.

Thank you for the info- with your help along with a call to the manufacturer we were able to get the machine up and running. The 369 alarm seems to have been caused by the A axis wires becoming stretched on the motor inside the cover because we rotated it too far manually with the pulse handle (which there isn't built-in foolproof prevention against); relieving the stress on these wires by taking off the round black cover and using an allan key to rotate the table in the opposite direction magically made the alarm go away. I assume a connector re-seated or something. Parameter 1815 solved the zero problem, and we've got it all indicated straight now. Thanks again

This turned out to be true. One of the wires was stretched around the motor, and relieving the stress cleared the alarm somehow.